Coldplay Prep Career-Spanning Band Documentary ‘A Head Full of Dreams’

Rolling Stone - By Ryan Reed

October 12, 2018 2:49pm

Coldplay trace their charmingly nerdy beginnings, creative struggles and rise to pop superstardom in the first trailer for their upcoming band documentary A Head Full of Dreams. The film, which follows the British quartet over two decades, is out November 16th via Amazon Prime Video.

The clip opens with Coldplay during an arena show on their massive tour behind their seventh and most recent LP, 2015’s A Head Full of Dreams. Then it rewinds to the group’s formation as London college students in 1996. “[We’re] gonna go on to be such a huge band,” singer Chris Martin, decked out in braces, enthuses into a camcorder. “Guy [Berryman], Will [Champion], Jon [Jonny Buckland] and Chris: Don’t you forget it. Massive, absolutely huge.”

Director Mat Whitecross – who helmed the 2016 Oasis doc, Supersonic – showcases the band members’ early personalities, including Buckland as a quiet, “stoned guy in the corner” and Martin as a “massive ball of energy.” The trailer also shows the band in the studio, goofing off in the control room and grappling with artistic choices (including Martin’s insecurities over the lyrics of 2005’s “Fix You”).

The preview touches on “addictions,” “tension” and vicious critical reviews. But it ends on a note of brotherly love: “The truth is that, really, without the other three, each of us would be kind of screwed,” Martin reflects.

Prior to the Amazon release, Coldplay will launch the movie on Wednesday, November 14th with a special one-night screening in over 2,000 theaters around the world. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 19th.

In conjunction with the film, the band will premiere three live tracks – “Us Against the World,” “Don’t Panic” and a cover of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” with Barry Gibb – exclusively on Amazon Music starting Friday, October 26th.